


The Art of Seduction

by AshenSkies (clarypuff)



Series: The Art of Seduction [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Minor Nara Shikamaru/Temari
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:34:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25648906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clarypuff/pseuds/AshenSkies
Summary: When Gaara opens the door to his office, fifty naked girls greet him in chirpy unison.Naruto tries to seduce Gaara. Gaara tries to resist. Everyone is horny, some people are angsty, and most people are just long-sufferingly tagging along for the ride. Featuring really short shorts, an odd Iwa mating ritual, and eventually a single bedsheet.
Relationships: Gaara/Uzumaki Naruto
Series: The Art of Seduction [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859446
Comments: 12
Kudos: 97





	1. Hormones and the Repercussions of Suppression

When Gaara opens the door to his office, fifty naked girls greet him in chirpy unison. “Good _morning_ , Kazekage-sama!”

Gaara blinks, and shuts the door.

Then he raises a hand and lets chakra flow to his fingers and curls them _just so_. Tsuki of his personal guard – the swirling inked red vines over the right half of his mask a deep red today, Gaara notes – appears by his side. “Kazekage-sama?”

“Open the door.”

The young man is suddenly tense. “Hai.” He looks up to his left and makes a sharp gesture, and another masked guard materializes by his side – Omi with the black rose on the mask, unfurling over his cheekbone. With his partner ready at his side, Tsuki palms a kunai and in one quick motion yanks the door open.

“Good _morning_ , Kazekage-sama and friends!”

Tsuki gapes. Omi stares. Gaara reaches out and delicately closes the door again.

Well. Not his imagination then. Regarding his bewildered guards with a hint of amusement in green eyes, he nods at them solemnly. “Thank you. You may now leave.”

“But what – that’s – there might be – Kazekage-sama! Are you sure?”

Gaara’s gaze sharpens in the way all who know him well have come to recognize as his way of raising an eyebrow. An evil smirky eyebrow. “You are welcome to investigate this threat on my behalf, then,” he says almost sweetly, and opens the door to push a stunned Tsuki inside.

“Good _morning_ , Kazekage-sama’s friend!”

The door shuts yet again on fifty cherubic voices. Omi stares at his Kage, who gazes back beatifically.

Tsuki bursts through the door a heartbeat later, and even his ears are red. Gaara thinks that sometimes having younger guards, if only because the older generation is still wary of him, has its advantages. Stress relief, for one.

Omi backs away at the look in the other guard’s eyes, shaking his head frantically, but he doesn’t get far. With something that sounds suspiciously like a growl, Tsuki grabs his partner’s hand and they vanish in a puff of smoke, Omi’s yelp trailing in the air:

“But we’re on guard duty and we just did it last night…!”

This is quite possibly too much information.

Mentally shrugging, Gaara opens the door for the fourth and hopefully last time, and steps in to a chorus of:

“Good _morning_ , Kazekage-sama!”

He nods calmly at the crowd batting its eyelashes at him. “Good morning, Naruto.”

“Damn, Gaara, you’re really no fun at all.”

The fifty identical pouts are too much for even the Kazekage, and he closes his eyes briefly with a wince. “I gave you my guard to play with. It is your fault that you let him get away. Now please change back, this is vile.”

When the resulting smoke clears, fifty naked, _male_ Naruto bunshins purr at him, slowly advancing forward. “Good _morning_ , Gaara-chaaan.”

Gaara’s eyes go wide. His fingers twitch.

A mudslide of sand knocks all the blonds off their feet, and Gaara turns his back on the noisily drowning bunshins. The sand pulls back around the door, and he opens it for the very _definitely_ last time of the day, walking out calmly and very definitely _not thinking_ about his sudden desire for a harem. Or possibly a cold shower.

The sand closes the door for him from the inside of the room, and even the loudest sound now seems far away. Gaara thinks that he feels like having omelette for breakfast, and wanders off.

* * *

When, hours later, Tsuki and Omi finally turn back up to relieve their replacements, Gaara very carefully does not notice Omi’s slight limp and inability to sit down, or his partner’s very satisfied air. Instead he assigns them to head to the mess that is his office, to help his two secretaries salvage the paperwork, and retreats back into his private study.

He spends the afternoon finalising and tidying his notes for the annual trilateral meeting the next day between Suna, Konoha and Iwa, the main shinobi villages of the three Great Five countries that are politically most powerful and also geographically closest, sharing the same borders and continent. When dusk falls, he stops work to get his dinner from the kitchens – the price of his privacy is the need to carry out some menial tasks personally, but then he was never one to feel comfortable being waited on hand and foot – and is back outside his rooms in a few minutes.

A few steps away from the door, he pauses. There is light coming from underneath the door. Why is there light coming from underneath the door?

He is still staring when it swings open. “Ah, dinner,” Naruto says happily, bouncing up to him. “I’m so hungry I could eat you, Shukaku and grit and all.” The tray disappears from Gaara’s hands and reappears in the blond’s in a movement almost too fast to see. “You have great timing, Gaara, I just finished my shower…”

In Gaara’s head the words rearrange themselves and sound like this: “Hello, Gaara, I arrived in Suna early because I was hungry and wanted to eat you _._ You have great timing, I just finished my shower so it’ll be perfectly obvious that I have nothing on under my dangerously low-slung towel which frames my inviting hipbones and is going to frame other bits soon because it looks like it’s going to fall off at any moment. Oh, and I haven’t dried off properly, so you can follow the trailing droplets of water with your eyes as they glitter all over my skin and slide down… _lower_.”

“– so you don’t mind do you? It’s okay, right?”

“Yes,” Gaara says, even though he knows the possibility of the question he’s answering being ‘Is it alright if I drop this farce of a covering and jump you right now?’ is very low indeed.

Naruto beams. “Great!” he cheers as Gaara plays back the conversation. Irritating guards… overly uncomfortable spacious guest rooms…

Oh.

Gaara blinks.

“Now Neji can’t keep complaining that I don’t take enough care with my safety if you’re there to kill… hey! Where’re you going?” Naruto demands as Gaara turns around and begins walking back the way he came.

“I agreed for you to stay in my rooms,” the redhead says calmly over his shoulder, not pausing in his footsteps. “There is no clause saying that I must be in them as well.”

“But – Gaara! That defeats the entire purpose!” Naruto wails from the doorway.

“Enjoy my dinner,” is Gaara’s only reply as he turns the corner.

He hears his door slam shut, cutting off loud cursing, at the same time that he sees Temari head out of her own apartment, saying something to someone inside. She catches sight of him mid-sentence and squeaks, quickly shutting the door. “Uh – Gaara! Going to get dinner?”

“I have already done so.”

“Oh. Well then –”

“I am doing so again.”

Confusion replaces the flustered panic. “Are you feeling alright?” she asks worriedly, and a little warily. “No hallucinations, things going boom –”

“Tell Shikamaru that the Hokage has relocated to my rooms,” Gaara says, ignoring her and the resulting red she turns. “I believe his guards do not know of this, or they would not have allowed it.”

“Ah, right,” Temari says weakly. “Does that mean you –”

“I will occupy other quarters until this meeting is over.”

“Okay. Right. I’ll tell the staff, after… I’ll tell them.”

Gaara eyes her, and then decides to take pity on her and not question further. He remembers a thought he’d had minutes ago, and says abruptly, “You were right.”

Temari blinks. “About?”

“Hormones. And the repercussions of suppression.”

The horrified, slightly glazed-over look on his sister’s face as she desperately tries to erase the images from her mind makes Gaara feel slightly better. He smirks a little to himself and moves on. Behind him a door opens and he hears Shikamaru’s voice: “Temari? Are you okay?”

“Hormones…!”

“…what?”

“Oh god…”

“Maybe you’d better come inside and lie down. Come on… this way… geez, you are one troublesome woman.”

There is a small pang of regret, and a voice screaming t him to _get back to your rooms right now!_ but Gaara ignores both. His and Naruto’s friendship is solid, and he will not ruin the best thing he has in his life with inappropriate thoughts, no matter how _persistent_.

Damn hormones.

No, he is strong. He is the Kazekage with nerves of iron! Lots of iron, because of all the blood he’s absorbed in his sand. His defences are _impenetrable_! Hormones are _underneath_ him! His resolve is as sharp as a _naked blade_ of steel!

He becomes aware of a certain trend in his mental vocabulary, and hastily stops that train of thought.

* * *

At three in the morning, Gaara stirs. He checks the clock and notes that he’s managed close to two hours of sleep – an improvement from the one hour of five years ago, and he’s come a long way since his childhood’s complete insomnia.

He has Naruto to thank, and, remembering, he smiles slightly. For Naruto to come to him with a jutsu to calm the demon in him, only four days after becoming the Hokage, meant that the blond had to have hit the classified collection of scrolls that only the Hokage could access within hours of his ascension, particularly if considering that the original jutsu had to be modified.

His memory is interrupted by movement – faint, barely traceable, but his sand is spread all around in and outside the room and Gaara frowns. The intruder is very skilled. He stills, sinks into a deep meditative calm so as to not alert the intruder to his own alert state, and waits.

The door opens. The door shuts.

The sand explodes into the air, wrapping the intruder securely, pinning him to the wall. Only then does Gaara sit up, reaching over to turn on the lamp by his bed, wondering why the intruder’s making no noise at all, or even trying to struggle.

The warm light sinks into blond spikes of hair and illuminates a pair of narrowed blue eyes pointedly giving him a Look.

Ah.

The sand dissolves, and Naruto crosses his arms and glares. “Isn’t your sand supposed to recognize friends and _not_ attack them?” he accuses in a loud whisper.

“It has no eyes,” Gaara replies dryly. “It senses people by chakra, and since you have hidden yours…”

“Oh, yeah, forgot I did that so that the guys couldn’t sense me sneaking out.” Naruto considers this, and then drops his arms and beams. “It worked!” he says smugly.

Gaara just gives him a blank stare. “Your guards are going to age prematurely.”

Naruto sticks his tongue out at him. Suddenly Gaara realizes what Naruto is wearing – or, more accurately, not wearing. He is, in fact, not wearing anything but a pair of soft, clinging pyjama pants, baring his very toned upper body to the light and not leaving much to the imagination regarding his very nice pair of legs, either.

Nerves of iron! Iron!

Gaara takes a deep breath and doesn’t know what will happen to Naruto when he lets it out, but they are saved by the door bursting open. Omi knows enough to stay out of the room so the sand won’t engulf him, only rise to hover protectively, and he calls from the doorway, “Kazekage-sama! The Hokage is missing, and we have to take defensive – measures – oh.”

He stares at a half-naked Naruto. Naruto stares back.

“He’s in there, isn’t he?” comes Shikamaru’s drawl. The Leaf-nin peers over Omi’s shoulder and sighs when his gaze lands on Naruto. “Geez, you’re more trouble than you’re worth. Lee’s wailing about how he’s failed as your guard and Neji’s going to strangle either him or you in the next five minutes, you know. And you,” he says to Omi, “I told you there was no need to panic, didn’t I? If you hadn’t rushed off, I’d have told you that the Hokage’s probably here.”

“But – but _why_ is he here?” Omi demands.

“Good question.” Shikamaru looks blandly at Naruto. “Well?”

The blond opens his mouth. He shuts his mouth. Then he turns hopefully to Gaara.

“I would like to hear this, too,” Gaara says placidly. “It should be interesting.”

Naruto pouts. “Traitor,” he accuses.

Gaara’s retort is pre-empted by Omi’s choking gurgle. Shikamaru hits him helpfully on the back, and when his eyes stop bulging, he manages to splutter, “Kazekage-sama – you and the – the Hokage –”

Shikamaru covers his face with a hand and mutters something unintelligible. Gaara’s eyes widen. Naruto blinks rapidly. “Uh…”

“Don’t be silly, Omi,” a new voice interrupts, sounding amused. “Akiko’s been trying to get into his bed for years, she’s not going to lose to anyone now, not even the Hokage.” Tsuki wraps an arm around an about-to-pass-out-at-his-lover’s-disrespect Omi, and says into the stunned silence, “Good luck to you, though, Hokage-sama,” before tugging Omi away.

Even Shikamaru is at a loss for words. Naruto has turned to stone.

Surprisingly, it is Gaara who finally breaks the awkward tension. “So she does not actually go around half-naked all the time in the rest of Suna, really,” he says thoughtfully. “I wondered about that.”

With a war cry, Naruto leaps on top of Gaara and shoves his face into the stunned redhead’s. “Misleader of women!” he howls. “What have you done to my pure and innocent psychopath, you – rampaging pervert of perverts!”

Gaara, being the pure and innocent _deprived_ psychopath that he is, reacts to the lips a thought away from his own and the body (half-naked!) pressed into his in the only way he knows how.

He twitches.

A blast of sand carries Naruto up and away, sweeping him into Shikamaru and sweeping Shikamaru up as well. The momentum sends them out into the hallway where, Gaara sense, it dumps them ungraciously in a heap before retreating back into the apartment.

Almost as an afterthought, it politely shuts the door in their faces.

Gaara sends the returned sand to seal and soundproof the room, and then lies back down and turns on his side. He ignores the faint outraged yells filtering through the sand barrier, and decides that he might just try that sleeping thing again. Not-thinking sounds very good right about now.

Especially when it comes with not-seeing the images trying to replay themselves in his mind.

* * *

The clock chirps the seven-o’clock alarm, and Gaara, who is already awake, turns it off and gets up. He spends the necessary time in the bathroom, and emerges ready to face the day.

Or so he thought.

Not five seconds after Gaara drops the barrier around his room to let some morning sun in, Naruto dives head-first through his window, yelling, “Off with the clothes!”

Gaara, in the act of reaching to take his Kage robes out, freezes with his arm in mid-air.

Naruto bounces to his feet and gives him a great big grin. “I convinced the Tsuchikage to drop the formal robes and all because it’s too damn hot,” he announces, and now Gaara has this image of the aging Tsuchikage doing a striptease for Naruto, and, oh, he can feel his mental stability slipping away.

Oblivious to the trauma he’s inflicted on his friend, the Hokage rambles on. “It’s too hot for my normal clothes, even, so I just threw on shorts and a sleeveless. Hope you don’t mind.”

Gaara takes in the extremely cut-off cut-offs, and the tight-fitting shirt, and suddenly the Tsuchikage vanishes from the strip-tease equation, to be replaced by –

– a mental image of himself keeling over frothing at the mouth. Oh, the horrors of imagination.

Gaara shudders, and thinks longingly of the good old days when all he thought of was blood. Oh, and dead people. Deciding that he needs to get away _now_ , he reaches out again for his robes – and promptly gets his hand smacked away.

Holding the injured hand in question, he glares at Naruto half-heartedly, making sure to keep his glare above the neck. “Now what?” he growls.

“You can’t wear robes! I just told you, the dress code’s informal. You have to wear an outfit like mine,” Naruto says firmly.

“That,” Gaara says succinctly, “is not informal. That is _indecent._ ”

“Really?” Naruto looks down at himself thoughtfully. “You know, maybe you’re right. I don’t feel like going all the way back to change, though, so – lend me some clothes, will you?”

And to Gaara’s horror, he grabs the hem of his shirt and starts lifting.

In that one instant, Gaara realizes that he’s out of options. He refuses to go near the blond, and touching him to stop him is unthinkable. He can’t run out of the room, because that’s cowardly and, really, just plain suspicious. The same goes for ordering Naruto to stop. He _can_ turn around, but that’s just _extremely_ temporary because the room is not that big and he’s next to the cupboard with the clothes that Naruto wants to borrow, and he’s not sure at all anyway that his willpower is strong enough to _keep_ his body turned away.

So he does the only thing he can think of. His fingers curl to form a shape –

“You called, Kazekage-sama?”

Naruto’s yelp causes Tsuki to turn around from bowing to his Kazekage in time to see the blond yanking his shirt back down. The look in Tsuki’s eyes as he turns back around says plainly, _I’m not going to ask, I’m_ really _not going to ask, and I don’t want to know._

Almost crying with relief (only internally, of course) Gaara nods to his guard. “Please transport the Hokage to his rooms to change.”

“Transport or escort?”

“Transport. He does not… feel like making the trip,” Gaara adds with a little vindictive satisfaction.

“Gaara…” The scowl is obvious in Naruto’s voice.

“I am smaller than you. My clothes will not fit.” He gives Tsuki a Look, hidden from Naruto’s sight by his guard’s frame, that fairly screams _get him out of here now!_ and Tsuki receives the message perfectly. He turns and grabs Naruto’s wrist in a too-fast movement. Gaara has just enough time to see Naruto’s eyes widen, and his mouth open – and then they are gone.

Gaara pulls out random items of clothing and dresses for his _life_. Naruto might come back, after all. When he’s done and there’s no sign of The Return of the Blond, he breathes a sigh of relief and escapes to the kitchen.

He really hopes Naruto changes before the meeting, or he might just end up signing Suna over to Konoha or some such just because the blond pouted, or stretched, or –

With some despair, Gaara wonders if it’s possible to conduct a Kage meeting blindfolded.

* * *

Gaara is making a mental list. It is a list that is growing at astounding speed, demanding attention that should by rights be put on the documents before him and the droning of the Tsuchikage’s assistant as he reads off a pre-prepared stack of documents.

The list is titled, ‘Why Konoha Keeps Getting Really Good Deals Out Of Kage Meetings In Which Naruto Takes Part’. It goes like this:

  1. Naruto squirms.  
  

  2. Naruto squirms in a really distracting, rhythmic movement centred around his hips.  
  

  3. Naruto squirms with a faint blush on his cheeks, although this might just be because of the heat (Gaara suspects otherwise).  
  

  4. Naruto makes the occasional helpless little noise in the back of his throat, ostensibly because of boredom (Gaara suspects otherwise here, too).  
  

  5. Naruto bites his lips to keep from interrupting tedious, never-ending speeches, and they end up plump and red. His lips, not the speeches.  
  

  6. Naruto’s skin looks artfully oiled to highlight every shift of lean muscle under smooth skin. Of course, this might be just the sweat due to the heat (Gaara really is a suspicious bastard, though).  
  

  7. Naruto plays _footsie_. Okay, so this might be limited to Gaara himself because he cannot imagine Naruto running his toes against some other Kage’s calf (KILL! KILL!), and the blond has done that to him out of boredom before, but against his thigh is going a bit too far.  
  

  8. Naruto pouts. This has been liberally used before and so Gaara’s built up some resistance to it already, but combined with everything else in his newly acquired repertoire…



At this point, to Gaara’s tremendous relief, the Tsuchikage’s assistant finishes. Gaara considers the strangely weighted silence that follows, and feels the rage rising. He clears his throat very deliberately. All eyes suddenly tear themselves away from Naruto’s loose-limbed form to look guiltily at him.

Once again, Gaara’s belief that Naruto is much more cunning than he lets on is confirmed. Despite the Tsuchikage’s age, and the fact that his assistant was seemingly looking at his documents (perhaps he is skilled at multitasking or has an extra pair of eyes, Gaara wouldn’t put it past him), the guilt is plain to see on their faces even though the glaze.

Gaara is _not happy_.

Sand hisses. Faces suddenly lose colour.

“No.”

There is a confused silence. Then Lee, always brave and never subtle, says, “No… what? Kazekage-sama,” he adds quickly.

“Everything.”

“Everything?”

“Everything.”

“Everything… what? Uh, Kazekage-sama.”

Gaara’s eye twitches. The people around the table lean away from him. It would have been more discreet if they hadn’t _all_ done it at the same time.

“Everything. From the increased border patrols to the trade concessions. No.”

His meaning finally dawning on the room, the Tsuchikage’s multitasking assistant blurts, “You can’t do that!”

Gaara is kind enough to have his sand consume the glass of the window before the man sails past the place where the glass used to be. His shriek dwindles.

Even the Tsuchikage is frozen, and Naruto’s gaping. There is not a sound, except for the mournful whistling of the wind outside. It’s hard to tell with the masks, but Gaara’s pretty sure Neji is smirking.

Temari tries to salvage the situation. “Gaara, you know it’s not very diplomatic to reject the Tsuchikage’s proposals before –”

“All the pretty words actually mean he wants more men and money from us even though we and Konoha already provide the majority of those in issues concerning border security,” Gaara says very precisely. “Just because I do not speak much does not mean I am stupid. Speaking is overrated. Diplomacy is overrated. If we spoke plainly and shortly the world would be a happier place.”

If Naruto can act like _that_ to get what he wants, then Gaara sees no reason why _he_ can’t speak like he wants to, in order to get his point across.

“There’d be more wars,” Omi points out without thinking. He’s on visible duty today, one of the four Sand guards standing around the room. “Lots of dead people and all that.”

Gaara doesn’t even blink. “Like I said.”

“Oh.”

“This meeting is over.” Gaara turns to move out of the room.

“We have not heard from you yet.” Naruto’s voice is clear in the horrified silence. “Nor have _we_ had our say.” The words are formal, but the tone is slightly petulant, like a child deprived of a toy.

Gaara doesn’t look back for fear of what he will see. “We will continue tomorrow. I will send messengers to inform you of the new venue.”

“New venue? But –”

“The window here is broken.” Not that the window’s of any concern, but Gaara has plans. No one will see bits of Naruto if he can help it – including himself. The amount of temptation he’s had to withstand so far would have earned him sainthood if he’d been normal; as it is, it should already more than redeem his past misdeeds.

Kankurou makes one last attempt. “Gaara, it’s still early –”

“I am going to the Barren Valley.”

“– so you should take as much time as you need to relax, we’ll take care of everything, not to worry, take your time,” Kankurou finishes without missing a beat, but Gaara can see from the corner of his eyes that his brother’s eyes are a little too wide. “You have a good time, now. Don’t rush yourself. _Really_ don’t rush yourself.”

Gaara spares a moment to give his brother a Look, before striding – _not_ escaping – out of the room. The murmur of protest rises as he opens the door, but it subsides as he closes it on Temari’s voice saying, “I wouldn’t stop him if I were you, that valley used to be a mountain range…”

He does eventually head to the Valley, the place he used to go when he lost control and felt like destroying all that was around him, but before that he summons a few Sand-nin and gives them certain orders.

The best defence, after all, is a good offense.

* * *

In the middle of his dinner, hidden away in his rooms with very definite orders to his guards to do everything in their power to keep the Hokage in _his_ rooms, and failing that to give their Kazekage early warning if the Hokage escapes, Gaara becomes aware of a figure leaning against the doorframe to his right, with the air of a posed model. He keeps his eyes on the scroll he’s reading as he eats.

“Go away, Naruto,” he says calmly. He doesn’t want to look, he doesn’t want to look…

“It’s Akiko, Kazekage-sama, here to serve you in… _any_ … way.”

Now Gaara _really_ doesn’t want to look. “I am busy, Akiko. Please leave.”

“But Kazekage-sama, I’m here to report to you on the project you assigned this afternoon.”

He’d assigned…? Oh, yes, Akiko is in Jirou’s team. He should have remembered. There is nothing for it now, though. “Report then.”

Akiko sashays further into the room – there is no other word for the way she moves. “We’ll need to recruit others to increase the pool of chakra, but otherwise the groundwork’s laid out –”

“Good.” It’s slightly rude, but his guards are used to his abruptness anyway, so he interrupts her without much hesitation and no guilt at all. “I appreciate the effort. Now –”

“Don’t you want to know who we’re planning to recruit?”

“I have faith in the capabilities of your team. Please convey my appreciation to your teammates.”

There is a flirty little laugh. “Oh, Kazekage-sama! Your _appreciation_? Really? It’s nice to know that you… _appreciate_ me. And my team, of course.” The last is added as an afterthought.

Gaara reminds himself that Akiko is a very competent kunoichi, one of the best; she has to be, to have made it to the second tier of guards, beneath only Gaara’s personal team. Sometimes he has trouble remembering this and why it would be a bad idea to squash her, though. “Yes, your _team_ has my appreciation. Now, I would appreciate it if you would return to your work and leave me to return to mine.”

Sometimes Gaara wonders if his increased verbosity has to do with the fact that Akiko, and Rie before her, tend to misinterpret orders unless they are worded very closely and bluntly. He’d learned from the Rie Days, though – not _too_ blunt, for the imaginative capacity of scorned women (especially if they are kunoichi) bent on ‘If I Can’t Have Him, No One Can!’ revenge is a terrible thing.

Though, after the fact, Gaara learned from Kankurou that ‘You’re annoying and shameless and your clothing does not suit your figure at all’ generally does not go down well with even the most level-headed of women. It certainly served to decrease the number of not-so-subtle hinting looks from the kunoichi around Gaara, at any rate, something that Gaara is grateful for, even if he still cringes when people mention in hushed voices Hell’s Fury Wednesday.

He surfaces from painful recollections in time to see, surprisingly, Akiko take a step back. “Very well, Kazekage-sama. I’ll take my leave – oooops.”

That last bit is because, somehow, in the middle of her bow (her very _low_ bow, incidentally showing off her cleavage to ample perfection, not that Gaara cares) the kunoichi managed to trip on absolutely nothing (maybe she overbalanced because of the quite likely unnatural weight in her front, but Gaara thinks that this is probably not the reason) and is now in the process of falling forward.

Into Gaara’s lap.

In dawning horror, the redhead watches in slow motion as she falls. His sand, firmly in place as an anti-Naruto barrier, is too far away to catch her in time; his own cross-legged position does not allow him to get up and run away. Gaara closes his eyes and braces himself for the impact –

For the impact –

For the –

Is that muffled squealing he hears?

He opens his eyes.

“You’d rather let this – this – _this_ , into your room, than _me_?” Naruto demands hotly, jabbing a finger at a trussed-up, gagged Akiko unceremoniously dumped on the floor. “Look at what she’s wearing! Look at what she’s _not_ wearing!”

Akiko manages to work the hasty gag from her mouth. “Speak for yourself!” she shrieks.

For once Gaara agrees with her. At least, he _would_ have agreed with her if his mental facilities could do more than gibber, but the sentiment is there. Naruto is wearing cut-off mini-shorts again, shorts that ride low on his hips…

And nothing else.

And since Naruto is facing Akiko and partly away from Gaara, the redhead has an almost perfect view of the perfect butt in those shorts, just begging to be groped and squeezed and _bitten_.

Gibber, gibber.

What’s left of Gaara’s mind is grateful that Naruto’s back is not _fully_ turned and so the view is not a complete one, because if it was then it would have been the point of no return for Gaara and ripping his fellow Kage’s only piece of clothing from him in front of witnesses is not an advisable move.

“It’s for stealth purposes, I had a hell of a time escaping,” Naruto is snapping at Akiko, hands on slim hips, drawing attention to lickable hipbones.

On one hand, this is good, because it distracts Gaara from Naruto’s behind. On the other hand, this is very very bad, because it merely gives him a choice of targets if his fraying control snaps.

“Then why didn’t you just stay in your room! And why did you have to come _here_!” Akiko is practically howling back.

Naruto opens his mouth, and it stays open. No words come out.

“See! You can’t answer that, you… you… shameless little… thing!”

There is a moment of suspense, in anticipation of a catfight. Then Naruto snaps his jaw shut and smiles slowly, evilly. Gaara and Akiko hold their breaths for what appears to be the ultimate trump card.

“Because I’m the _Hokage_ ,” Naruto says silkily. “And unless you want to upset the diplomatic ties between Suna and Konoha, you had better get out _now_.”

Victory!

Gaara almost applauds, only he can’t decide which is the lesser evil – the blond or the skank. Actually, come to think of it, the two terms are not mutually exclusive.

There isn’t much the kunoichi can say to that, of course, so after an incredibly venomous glare, she mumbles her apologies and good-byes, and hops her way out the door. Naruto’s smug grin never leaves her figure until he can slam the door behind her, and then he turns to flash a victory sign at Gaara.

The pose is wasted, however, seeing that Gaara’s eyes are tightly shut to protect what’s left of his sanity. “Naruto,” he says calmly (or as calmly as possible at the moment anyway, which is perhaps more _hysterical_ than calm), “Why are you here?”

Naruto pouts, but gives it up when Gaara’s eyes remain tightly closed. “Can’t I visit a friend who’s feeling a little unwell?”

“Thank you for your concern, I am perfectly fine, please go away now.”

“You’re obviously not fine! Look, you can’t even open your eyes! Are they that sensitive to light? Does it hurt? Come on, stop working – I’ll turn off the lights, let’s get you into bed right now.”

Gaara knows that Naruto is not stupid. He cannot really believe that Gaara is unwell, can he? Gaara finally lets himself acknowledge the fact that, yes, Naruto’s behaviour so far is probably not his normal behaviour and is also probably (definitely) aimed at _him_ in particular... with sex as the likely end goal.

And Gaara wants nothing more than to give in.

But he can’t.

Not because he does not want to ruin their friendship – though that _is_ a consideration – and not because they are both Kages (distance is no barrier to either of them, and shinobi villages tend to be very open minded about these sorts of things, because all jounins are relatively insane and _nothing_ can faze villagers used to encountering jounin on a daily basis). Not because he does not want to take his relationship with Naruto further, because that _is_ actually what he wants, what he dreams of.

No, it is because he does not want to be a replacement for Uchiha Sasuke.

Sasuke, who Naruto just broke up with.

Gaara knows these things about Naruto, even if Naruto does not seem to know these things about him (Akiko, Rie), because all of his shinobi who visit Konoha are under orders to report back on the Hokage, amongst whatever other duties they are there to carry out.

It pains him to think that Naruto would try to use him in this way.

But he is used to such feelings, and so he pushes them easily away as he has always done.

“Naruto,” he says ominously, still refusing to open his eyes. “Your dressing is extremely inappropriate for anything outside your own private rooms. Think of what your village would say if they knew that their Hokage was running around in a state of undress.”

“Um… they’d say, ‘good for you, Hokage-sama!’ and then take their cue from me?”

An image of ‘Konoha, the Almost-Nudist Village’ parades itself before Gaara’s eyes. The words pop out of his mouth before he can stop them, probably due to the horrifying image having stunned his brain:

“Your village will be overflowing with tourists.”

There is a pause as Naruto tries to work out his line of thought. Then there is a choking sound. “Oh my god,” Naruto says faintly. “Gaara… your mind works in mysterious ways.”

Gaara ignores the trace of awe in Naruto’s words, because frankly, that is just disturbing. “Naruto,” he says, letting his impatience show, “I have a lot of work left to do. Will you _please_ leave?”

“Do you really want me to?” Naruto’s voice is half-coy, half-serious.

 _No, I don’t, I want you to stay!_ “Yes,” Gaara says firmly, as the rest of him calls his mouth _traitor_.

“Alright.” Naruto sounds resigned, but a touch of determination makes itself known as he adds, “I’ll leave you to work… for now.”

“Thank you.” Gaara keeps his voice pleasant. “I will see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, alright.” Naruto’s presence moves towards the door, and then pauses. “Try to get more sleep, okay? You have years of sleep deprivation to catch up on.”

Gaara feels his heart warm. This is why he cannot get mad at Naruto. He opens his eyes, and this time the lust that surges at the sight of his friend cannot overpower the affection, and he smiles. “I will try.”

Naruto gives him a quick grin, and then ducks out of the room. Gaara feels a sense of loss, but then again, he always feels that way without Naruto’s presence beside him.

With a sigh, Gaara turns back to his work. He really does have quite a bit of it to get through, and normally the stubborn and serious streak in him will not let him rest until he finishes it all, but he thinks that it will not hurt to leave some of it for the next day, for once.

He promised Naruto to try to sleep more, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this way back in... holy fuck, 2008. Reading through it again, having just joined the MDZS/The Untamed fandom, I realise how much my Naruto and Gaara here resemble my Wei Ying and Lan Zhan. Gaara's ANBU are the supportive Lan juniors, Temari is a concerned Lan Xichen, Sasuke is a long-suffering Jiang Cheng, Shikamaru is the quietly intelligent Nie Huaisang, and suddenly now I want to write a MDZS/Naruto crossover.
> 
> I'm trying to get back into writing again and I have a Twitter account I never use, so feel free to come say hi @clarypuff if you'd like!
> 
>   
>  **Ashen Skies**   
>  _"Off with the clothes!"_   
> 


	2. Mating Rituals and Misunderstandings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [When Gaara opens the door to his office, fifty naked girls greet him in chirpy unison.] Naruto tries to seduce Gaara. Gaara tries to resist. Everyone is horny, some people are angsty, and most people are just long-sufferingly tagging along for the ride. Featuring really short shorts, an odd Iwa mating ritual, and eventually a single bedsheet.

There are no surprise attacks awaiting him the next day, and Gaara spares a moment to be thankful. After breakfast, when he dresses himself, he pulls out clothes that he does not often wear and has not worn for a long time. Over those go the Kage robes, the hat ignored – in Kage meetings, the hat is superfluous.

Then, feeling warm, he heads to the meeting.

A blast of wintry air greets him as he enters the room, and he nods his approval at Jirou, standing in one corner and watching him discreetly for acknowledgement. When Jirou smiles, Gaara looks around and is satisfied to see that the other Kages and their ANBU are not present. It is five minutes past the arranged meeting time, and for them to not be here can only mean…

“They came, but they left to change into warmer clothes,” Kankurou says, slouched comfortably in his chair and warm clothes. Temari just rolls her eyes, dressed similarly. Gaara already sent guards earlier in the morning to warn his siblings and those of his own guard on visible duty, so all of the Suna-nins came prepared.

Gaara smirks, and takes his seat in between his siblings.

“Actually, I expected Naruto to just use a warming jutsu or something,” Temari remarks. “He never backs down from a challenge.”

Kankurou frowns. “You know, that makes sense.”

“But Naruto also knows _when_ to stop pushing things,” Gaara says, surprised that they do not realize. “This room is a clear message that I will not tolerate any further similar incidents.”

His siblings exchange a look. Temari says, “You two have the weirdest relationship, little brother,” while Kankurou nods agreement.

Gaara is confused. “But –”

The arrival of the Tsuchikage does not allow him to ask his question, and while the old man looks a little put out that he had to change, he nods once at Gaara to show that he understands why this came about. Gaara inclines his head in return.

Naruto arrives, for the first time in days fully covered in his Hokage robes, and takes his place. He shoots Gaara a ‘This Is Not Over’ look, but then turns serious. “Alright,” he says. “Let’s get down to business.”

They have a very productive meeting, and when it ends Gaara is in a good enough mood to nod at the Tsuchikage’s assistant, who was very helpful in soothing his Kage when the old man was being difficult. Most of the time the other Kages are too diplomatic to have problems with Gaara’s and Naruto’s young ages, the two of them have found, but sometimes when issues are being contested they can practically see the resentment rising. Especially when Naruto and Gaara are in the meetings together, because more often than not the two of them instinctively band together and stand as one.

The Tsuchikage’s assistant stays behind as everyone else leaves the room, only Naruto, Gaara, and two of the Suna guards remaining. He approaches Gaara, who rises to greet him. “Kazekage-sama,” he says in a low murmur of a voice. “Please excuse our Tsuchikage’s temper.”

Gaara tilts his head up to look at the taller man, and smiles. “Conflict is unavoidable, Ume-san,” he says. “I myself would like to apologise for –”

“Does only the Kazekage merit an apology?” Naruto’s voice interrupts them, sounding friendly, but there is a subtle edge. They turn to look at him, reclining like a cat – or a king – in his seat across the table. His blue eyes glitter. “Should I be insulted?”

Ume bows to him. “I approached the Kazekage first as he is the host, Hokage-sama, but rest assured that I was going to offer my apologies to you next.”

Naruto rises from his seat with a sinuous grace that is different from his normal artless one. He begins strolling around the table towards them. “Is that so? Ume-san… is it? You have already apologised to the Kazekage, have you not?”

Ume turns to face him, and executes a perfectly respectful bow. “And now I apologise to you, Hokage-sama, for our Tsuchikage’s temper.”

Naruto’s eyes narrow. “And what if I –”

“Naruto, stop picking fights already.” That impatient voice makes everyone in the room halt, and turn to the door. “You’re our Hokage, so don’t embarrass us by embarrassing yourself.”

Gaara’s fists clench. He notices, and forces himself to stop before anyone notices.

Uchiha Sasuke stands in the doorway.

Naruto rounds on him, planting his hands on his hips. “What are _you_ doing here?” he demands, and while there is irritation in his voice, there is also welcome. “Didn’t you just get back from Kiri?”

“Yeah, and the moment I arrived in Konoha I had to go off again because of this mission.” Sasuke scowls. “After the cool climate of Mist, this place feels like a damn oven. No offence, Kazekage-sama,” he adds, looking over to Gaara and giving him an obligatory bow.

“No offence taken,” Gaara says neutrally, because it will not do to be less than polite to Naruto’s – friend, now, only a friend. But Gaara cannot bring himself to believe this, because there is no hostility in Naruto as he bickers familiarly with Sasuke, no bitterness, no hurt feelings. It can only mean that Naruto has made up again with Sasuke, or that they have never broken up at all.

Gaara wonders what the past few days have been all about, then, but his thoughts are jumbled by the sudden sharp ache in his chest.

Ume touches his arm gently, fingers lingering, bringing Gaara out of his thoughts. “Kazekage-sama,” he says softly, “I will take my leave now. Shall I deliver the first draft of documents to you later this day? Perhaps in the evening?”

“That would be good, thank you,” Gaara replies, trying his best to ignore the Leaf-nin. “And as I could not complete my apology before, let me offer it again to you now. My actions yesterday were regrettable. I hope I did not cause you any injuries.”

“I would not be where I am if I could not save myself from a fall,” Ume says lightly, smiling. “And I did speak out of turn in the first place, after all.”

Gaara feels his lips quirk in a smile. “That was rather more than a fall, Ume-san.”

Ume’s smile turns into a grin, and his formal speech relaxes into something lighter. “I’m from Iwa, Kazekage-sama. You should see the height of the rocks that are everywhere. Trust me, in Iwa terms, that really was a simple fall.”

“That sounds… dangerous.”

“It’s actually pretty fun.” Ume shoots him a look that Gaara cannot interpret. “The next time a Kage meeting is held in Iwa, I can show you some of the games our shinobi have developed to make use of the landscape.”

Gaara nods. “I would like that.” The last meeting held in Iwa had bored Gaara out of his mind.

“Then it’s agreed.” Ume gives him a quick grin, and then bows formally. “I will see you later, Kazekage-sama.”

Gaara inclines his head in acknowledgement and dismissal, and watches Ume leave the room, bowing to Naruto and murmuring his good-byes as he passes the Leaf-nin. As he leaves, Gaara becomes aware of Naruto’s stare. He steels himself before meeting that gaze.

Naruto’s eyes are cold, for some reason. “You seem pretty friendly with the guy,” he remarks.

“He is… easy to talk to,” Gaara answers cautiously, unsure of what it is that he has done. He does not like the feeling of uncertainty. He does not like being unable to read Naruto, something that he has done easily for a few years now.

“I see.” Naruto’s voice is neutral. Suddenly he turns and grabs Sasuke’s hand, pressing close to the dark-haired boy; Gaara’s teeth grind. “I’m going to catch up with Sasuke. I’ll see you later.”

Gaara watches Naruto yank Sasuke after him, leaving the Uchiha only time enough to bid Gaara a quick requisite goodbye. Again there is the sense of loss, but this time it is stronger than ever, and it feels more… permanent.

Naruto is Sasuke’s again, and Gaara cannot compete.

“Kazekage-sama.” That voice is Seiji’s, one of his personal guards, and Gaara looks at him. “May I have permission to say something that it might not be my place to say?”

Gaara is curious, and he nods his assent.

“I’m not sure if you noticed, but… that Iwa-nin is interested in you.”

“Interested?” Gaara says blankly.

Seiji nods. Across from him, Gaara sees his partner, Ren, nod as well.

“But… he is from another village. And I am the Kazekage. There is no point in his being interested in me, nothing can come of it.” Gaara really does not understand.

He supposes that his confusion must be clear, because Ren says, “To some people, if they like a person, such barriers are only there to be overcome.”

“But… I am _me_.” Gaara does not know how else to say it, but the expression in his guards’ faces tell him that they understand.

“Kazekage-sama, please believe us when we say that once people get to know you, you are very easy to like.” Ren speaks earnestly, and he clearly believes in his words.

“And you’re actually pretty damn hot, if you’ll excuse my phrasing,” Seiji adds, a wicked light in his eyes. He and Tsuki are brothers, and their penchants for teasing people are similar.

Gaara can only stare, amazed.

“You really are, Kazekage-sama,” Ren says firmly, mistaking the look for disbelief. “You’re considered the ultimate catch in Suna.”

“Just look at Akiko and Rie, and all the other girls,” Seiji points out.

Gaara winces at the mention of Rie. “I… see,” he manages. Pulling himself together, he eyes his guards. “All that was just said is not to be repeated, understand?”

Ren nods vigorously while Seiji salutes him with a smirk. “Understood,” they chorus.

With a last warning look at Seiji, Gaara leaves the room, thoughts whirling. Ume-san… interested in him? What a strange concept. Perhaps throwing a man out a window is some sort of Iwa mating ritual. Gaara cannot imagine anyone normal (which automatically, in his mind, excludes the entire kunoichi population of Suna, and a good bit of the rest of the female civilians as well) liking him in, well, _that_ way.

Bright blue eyes and a cheerful smile surface in his mind.

He will drop by the academy, Gaara decides, changing his destination abruptly. Helping out with the students and seeing the awe in their eyes – they are too young to remember the Gaara of the past, and know him only as their beloved Kazekage – always cheers him up.

* * *

All things considered, Gaara is very proud of his self-control.

Naruto is sitting very close to Sasuke. Naruto’s knee is pressed against Sasuke’s. Naruto keeps stealing food from Sasuke’s plate like he’s done it all his life, and Sasuke is letting him even though his expression is annoyed. Naruto keeps leaning into Sasuke when he reaches for food. Naruto keeps taking food for Sasuke. Naruto keeps bringing up things that apparently only he and Sasuke know, and then cutting himself off with a laugh and a ‘Sorry, Gaara, inside joke’.

This last item is _particularly_ trying.

Even so, Gaara’s sand has not even so much as twitched. Admittedly Gaara himself has twitched a few times, but that is normal behaviour for him when Naruto’s in one of his moods, so that’s okay. And moreover, Gaara has been managing a very civil conversation with Sasuke for the past fifteen minutes, Naruto throwing in comments from time to time. Neither the urge to kill nor the sharp ache in his chest – an old friend by now – has gotten the better of him.

Gaara thinks that if _this_ does not merit sainthood, then if there is a heaven, it will be saint-less.

Naruto suddenly jumps to his feet, startling both Sasuke and Gaara. He heads towards the door with a purpose, calling over his shoulder, “I’ll be back in a second,” before disappearing into the next room. Gaara blinks after him, shrugs, and then returns to eating his food.

He swallows the mouthful of rice and looks at Sasuke, who hasn’t resumed eating. Rather, those cool eyes are looking him over. “Is there a problem, Uchiha-san?” Gaara says politely.

“You like him,” Sasuke says bluntly, watching him closely.

Gaara keeps his calm admirably, taking another mouthful of rice with egg. He swallows the sudden lump in his throat along with the food, and says evenly, “You have no cause to worry. Naruto seems very devoted to you.” He chooses not to mention the previous days’ behaviour, because Sasuke does not need to know.

Sasuke’s reaction is unexpected, however. He lets out a snort of laughter, and shakes his head. “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” he mutters to himself, while Gaara watches, mystified. “Two of the most powerful shinobi in the world, and they’re this _stupid_ …”

Gaara stares. He wonders whether Sasuke’s days with Orochimaru, before he and Naruto killed the man together, have driven him insane. “Uchiha-san?”

“Yeah, sorry.” Sasuke takes a deep breath, and sits forward, looking at Gaara intently. “Okay, look, the thing is, I kind of promised the moron that I wouldn’t say anything, so I can’t say it directly, but –”

“Sorry for the wait!” Naruto says cheerfully as he bursts back into the room, striding over to them and accidentally kicking Sasuke in the back. As Sasuke grunts with pain, hand going to his back, Naruto drops back down into his seat and hands Gaara… a scroll?

“The first draft of the documents,” Naruto says, nodding at the scroll. “I happened to meet the Iwa guy while I was coming back from the bathroom, and I said I’d pass it to you.”

Gaara looks down at the scroll in his hand, and then up at Naruto. “The bathroom is just behind you,” he says blankly.

Naruto twists in his seat to look at the door. “Oh, so it is! Why didn’t you tell me earlier? You could have saved me a trip out.”

As Gaara stares at him some more, Sasuke elbows Naruto hard in the ribs. When Naruto glares at him, Sasuke glares back equally venomously. “You kicked me in the _spine_ ,” he hisses.

“You were going to break your promise!” Naruto hisses back.

“I was _not_!”

“Yes you were! I could hear you from outside!”

“Then you’d have heard me clearly saying that I _wasn’t_ going to –”

Gaara interrupts, a little annoyed. Trying to keep out of their affairs as a couple is one thing, but this clearly involves him somehow, and he hates being left in the dark. He has had too many years of that already. “Can either of you tell me what is going on?”

Naruto jerks, startled, and then laughs a little too loudly. “Ahaha, no, it’s just this thing between me and Sasuke –”

“Okay, that’s it,” Sasuke declares, rising to his feet. “I’m not doing this anymore.” When Naruto opens his mouth to protest, he shoots a glare at the blond. “I’m not going to say anything and break my promise,” he says sharply, “but I’m not going to play your silly games.”

“Sasuke…” Naruto says ominously.

“Oh, just shut up and open your eyes, Naruto!” Sasuke snaps. Then he looks at Gaara, who knows that he has a completely lost and confused expression on his face but cannot seem to do anything about it, and the scowling expression softens a little. “Naruto’s an idiot, Gaara-san,” he says. There is a calculating look in his eyes as he adds, “I don’t see how you can stand him for days on end. I certainly couldn’t, and I’m not going to try ever again.”

“ _Sasuke!_ ” Naruto growls, eyes narrowed dangerously. He stands to face his former teammate down.

Gaara is trying to work out Sasuke’s words. Did he just imply…?

“Whatever, dobe.” Sasuke waves a dismissive hand at Naruto, gives Gaara an ironic little bow, and says, “I’m done here. I’ll be heading back to Konoha early tomorrow, Gaara-san. Thank you for Suna’s hospitality.”

“You are always welcome back in Suna,” Gaara says automatically. Yes, Sasuke really _did_ imply that his relationship with Naruto had ended… there was no other reasonable explanation. And he was trying to tell Gaara something else, too. But what…?

“You can’t do this, Sasuke,” Naruto is saying, leaning in close to Sasuke, an urgent message that Gaara cannot read in his eyes. “You can’t just –”

“Get over it, dobe.” Sasuke rolls his eyes, turning and heading for the door. “This would never have worked, and I should never have agreed. See you later.”

“Wait –”

The door shut.

Naruto is still staring after Sasuke, his mouth opening and shutting a few times. Then he throws a wary look at Gaara. “Uh…”

Gaara looks up at his friend, and sees the embarrassment and the mortification, and he finally understands. He knows what Naruto was trying to do.

He can feel the tears burning in his chest, but he knows how to keep them from spilling.

“That wasn’t – Sasuke’s just being stupid, he doesn’t know what he’s saying –” Naruto is fumbling to explain, all the time shooting Gaara those worried, chagrined looks, like he is afraid of Gaara’s reaction. “Just forget you ever heard –”

“Stop,” Gaara says quietly.

Naruto stops.

Distantly, Gaara thinks that he finally understands what it means to have your heart breaking in your chest. Temari once used that phrase, and Gaara thought it ridiculously exaggerated at the time. Now he knows better. He closes his eyes, and tries for calm. “I know already, Naruto,” he says finally, when he is sure his voice will come out neutral and not like he is breaking. “You do not have to hide it anymore.”

“…oh. Um. You… don’t mind?” There is such hope in that voice that Gaara cannot bear it.

“I am sorry.” He says it steadily, trying not to choke on the words. “I cannot… I cannot let this go on.”

There is silence.

“You are my friend, Naruto,” he continues, forcing himself to say it. “But even at the risk of our friendship, I cannot… I…”

“It’s okay.” Naruto sounds like he is breaking, too, but struggling just as hard to keep together. “I understand. You don’t have to say anymore.”

Gaara bows his head. “I’m sorry,” he whispers.

“No, it’s okay, you don’t have to be!” There is a forced cheerfulness in Naruto’s voice, which is so very wrong, because Gaara firmly believes that there should never be anything false in that voice, and it should always sound happy. “We’re still friends, right?”

Trust Naruto to be so forgiving. It is more than Gaara can hope for. “Of course,” he says, hope steadying him. “Always.”

“Yeah? Cool. Okay.” Naruto takes a deep breath. “Um… you don’t mind if I… there’s so much food left, but –”

“I will take care of it.”

“Okay. Great.” There is the sound of Naruto standing, of Naruto walking to the door. Just as it opens, Naruto’s oddly subdued voice says, “We’re still friends, right?”

“ _Always_ ,” Gaara says, and means it.

He hears the door close, and then there is silence.

And in the silence, Gaara finally opens his eyes, the light stinging them. He finally allows himself to feel the emotions he has been keeping at bay, and his breath suddenly shortens. His throat burns. His fingernails cut into his palms, as he curls them into fists so tight that his knuckles are white. The hollow in his chest aches so badly that it feels like it is tearing him in two.

He should have known better than to get his hopes up, Gaara thinks despairingly. He should have known. He has always known of Naruto’s feelings for Sasuke, and he should have seen it earlier. Of _course_ Naruto would try to win Sasuke back when they broke up. Naruto is strong, and determined, and he would never just give up that easily, especially not on the people he loves.

But even though Gaara wishes that he could help Naruto, he cannot let himself be the third party that Naruto uses to make Sasuke jealous. Even if the plan is working – hearing of Naruto’s efforts so far had clearly made Sasuke give Naruto another chance, hence the dinner – even if, by letting himself be embraced by Naruto, Gaara will help to finally make Sasuke so jealous that he will see what is before his own eyes, Gaara cannot do it.

It will hurt too much.

Ignoring the slowly cooling food, Gaara stands and makes his way to his bedroom. His footsteps are heavy, and with every step he feels like he is splintering further. He fairly collapses on his bed, and lies there unmoving.

And even as the world turns, Gaara wishes that it would stop, so that he will not have to get up in the morning, so that he will not have to face the new day.

A day that will herald a future without any hope of Naruto’s love.

* * *

It is Temari who ventures into his room the next morning, when Gaara does not stir.

He hears whispers from outside the door, before it opens and Temari’s presence slips into the room. He can sense her pause, taking in the block of sand covering the window, blocking any light from entering. He understands her well enough to know that she is debating turning the main light on, before deciding against it.

She closes the door, throwing the room into complete darkness again, and makes her way to the bed. Gaara still does not move as she fumbles in the dark and manages to turn the bedside lamp on. Soft light glows behind his eyelids, and then is blocked by a shadow, and the bed dips as she sits beside him.

“What happened, little brother?” Temari says softly.

Gaara doesn’t answer. He wants her to leave, but he cannot bother telling her to.

There is some hesitation. Then a hand gently rests on his hair, warm and comforting. Gaara wishes that the hand belongs to someone else, and toys with the idea of pretending it does, before dismissing it as a foolish dream.

“Gaara,” Temari says, “please tell me what’s wrong.”

She will not leave unless he gives her something. Gaara knows that much. So he says, without moving anything else but his lips, “Nothing that you can fix.”

Temari thinks about that. He can sense her worry, and curiosity, but worry wins out. “The Kage meeting is supposed to be in ten minutes,” she says. “Do you want me to postpone it to this afternoon?”

He wants to cancel it and kick all the Leaf and Rock nins out of Suna this instant, but he knows that he will feel very stupid if he does, because he has already promised Naruto that they are still friends, and that means that nothing can change between them. Except that things have already changed so much. “Yes,” he finally answers his sister. “Please.”

“Alright.” There is a pause. “Is there any excuse you want me to give the other Kages?”

Gaara cannot stop the humourless, short laugh. “Naruto already knows,” he says bitterly, and immediately regrets the impulsive, thoughtless words as Temari stiffens. She is smart, very much so, and Gaara knows this – just as Kankurou helps him handle the military side of affairs, Temari helps him deal with all the politics – and so he knows that she will very easily put it all together.

And she does. “You confessed to Naruto?” she says, sounding stunned. “And… he _rejected_ you?”

There is incredulity and anger and a dark vengeful tone to those last words, and Gaara knows that if he does not say anything, Naruto will shortly find himself being hunted down by not only one very merciless kunoichi, but also the very merciless kunoichi’s brother. “I did not confess,” he mutters. “He still has no idea about my feelings.”

“Oh.” Temari calms down, and the killing aura subsides. “Then what happened?”

Gaara struggles to find words. “It was… simply made clear to me,” he says at last, “that Naruto can never return my feelings.”

Temari thinks about this. “Are you sure?” she says after a while. “Because I really thought…”

“I am sure.”

She sighs. “Oh, Gaara…”

He feels his lips quirk in a smile – how amazing, that he should still be able to smile. “As Kankurou would say, you are giving in to your girly side.”

She ruffles his hair. “If I had my fan, you’d be feeling it hit you right about now,” she says lightly, but the worry is still clear, only this time she is clearly at a loss what to do.

And Gaara remembers that his life is not his own. He is the Kazekage, and he cannot seem anything less than strong. So he begins the painful process of pulling himself back together. “Temari…”

“Yes?”

“Please do not say anything about this to anyone. Anyone at all. Do you understand? I do not want anyone to know.”

“How about –”

“Kankurou is fine.” Gaara thinks about this, and then adds, “And you are not allowed to give Naruto a hard time. It is not his fault that my feelings are one-sided.”

Temari is silent. He can sense her reluctance.

“I want you to promise me, Temari.”

She sighs, a frustrated huff. “Fine, fine. I promise that I will _try_ not to give Naruto a hard time. Alright?”

“And I want you to promise to make Kankurou promise, too.”

“ _Yes_ , alright, I get it.” She pauses. “I’d better go tell the guards to send to the other Kages and tell them the meeting’s postponed until this afternoon. Or do you want to just make that tomorrow?”

“No. I will be fine by the afternoon.”

He hears her snort. “I very seriously doubt that, little brother. But afternoon it is.” She pats his hair one more time, and then stands. “Do you want me to wake you for lunch?”

Gaara considers, and then nods.

“Okay. I’ll be back later.” He hears her walk to the door. Before she opens it, she says softly, “It’s okay to cry sometimes, you know.”

He smiles tiredly. “I am afraid I have forgotten how, Temari.”

She does not answer, but he knows that the look on her face is pained. Quietly, she leaves.

Gaara takes a deep breath, and another. Then he sits up, carefully opening his eyes against the lamplight. He has done nothing but brood the whole night, and he still has that first draft to go through before the meeting. This behaviour is unacceptable.

Standing, Gaara heads to the bathroom. He will clean up, and then work on some documents. It will serve to clear his mind, and help him compose himself.

He will need all the composure he can manage.

So it is that when Temari comes for him, he is properly dressed and ready for the meeting after lunch, his notes on the proposed treaty neatly penned. He follows her into the dining room, where they have a quiet lunch, discussing each of their views on the treaty. He can sense Ren and Seiji nearby, which is odd, because they are usually good at hiding their presence. It seems that he is not the only one in a bad mood today.

When lunch is done, they head to the meeting room. Their walk is uneventful, except that every one of the Suna ANBU that they meet seems to bow deeper than normal while avoiding his eyes. Gaara wonders why, and then decides that he is in no mood to bother asking.

There is no one there yet, except Tsuki and Omi, stationed in one corner each. They, too, exhibit the odd behaviour, but Gaara ignores them. Ren and Seiji materialize in the other two corners. Kankurou comes in soon, and while his eyes hold empathy and worry, all he does is greet Gaara normally. But he ruffles Gaara’s hair as he passes by on his way to his seat.

Gaara knows it for the concern it is, and so gives Kankurou a half-hearted scowl as he tries to neaten his hair again. Kankurou grins at him.

The Tsuchikage arrives, and nods to Gaara. “Are you feeling better now, Kazekage-sama?” he enquires politely.

“Much better, Tsuchikage-sama,” Gaara answers, equally polite. He avoids Ume’s gaze when the other man tries to catch his own. “Thank you for the concern.”

“There must be a flu bug going around,” the old man remarks. “One of the Konoha guards also came to me this morning to ask for the meeting to be pushed back. Apparently the Hokage is feeling ill, too.”

“I see.” Gaara manages not to react at the mention of Naruto. “You should be careful yourself in that case, Tsuchikage-sama.”

Then Naruto arrives, and Gaara suddenly understands the reason for his ANBU’s conduct today, because the moment the Hokage steps into the room, looking as worn as Gaara feels, the killing intent spikes from all four corners.

Gaara suppresses a grimace. How in the world had they found out? He eyes Kankurou and Temari, who studiously avoid his stare. Very well, he would force some answers out of them later.

Even the Iwa shinobi, and the Tsuchikage, stiffen in their places. Naruto does not seem to notice, however. He gives a general nod to the room, and takes his seat. “Shall we begin?” he says, looking at the Tsuchikage.

The old Kage looks consideringly at Naruto, but wisely chooses not to comment. “Of course,” he says. “Now, I believe you would have seen the first draft of the treaty by now…”

It is the most awkward, tension-filled meeting in the history of Kage meetings, outside of war times. Gaara and Naruto avoid talking to each other if they can help it, and when their eyes meet accidentally, they immediately look away. As the meeting progresses, Temari ends up taking over the talking for Suna, and Shikamaru for Konoha.

When dusk falls, the meeting is adjourned for the next day. They agree that the second draft will be handed out by the Suna nins by ten o’clock, latest, and then people start to leave. The Tsuchikage and his party are the first to go, followed by the Konoha shinobi – Gaara watches resignedly as his four ANBU drill holes into Naruto’s back with their stares. Naruto does not react, even if there is no way he cannot have noticed.

But Neji and Shikamaru react for him. They stop following Naruto, and turn to stare back at the ANBU. Shikamaru is not wearing a mask, and so his sharp, narrow stare is piercing, even as he slouches, hands in his pockets. Even behind his mask, Neji’s glare is intense.

Naruto pauses, but does not look back. “Neji, Shikamaru,” he says quietly, but there is an edge of steel in his voice. “Let’s go.”

With one more belligerent stare each, the two Leaf-nin turn and follow Naruto out. The door closes behind them.

Finally. Gaara turns in his seat to glare at Temari. “Who told?” he says sharply.

“I only told Kankurou,” Temari says defensively.

Kankurou holds up his hands when Gaara’s green stare turns on him. “And _I_ didn’t tell anyone,” he says quickly.

Gaara considers this. Then he says, “ANBU. Come here.”

The four of them move to stand facing Gaara. He eyes them. “Who, and how?”

None of them answer.

Gaara’s stare turns into a glare. “I want an honest answer _now._ ”

There is a flurry of silent exchanges. Tsuki and Omi are together, as are Ren and Seiji, and Tsuki and Seiji are brothers, so their silent exchange is fast, as they are familiar enough with one another to almost read one another’s minds. Finally, Tsuki steps forward. “Omi and I overheard Temari-sama and Kankurou-sama talking,” he says crisply.

“Why do _all_ the ANBU seem to know?”

“It seems that some of the other ANBU heard us telling Seiji and Ren, and… spread the word.”

Gaara thinks about this carefully. Then his eyes narrow. “Where, exactly, did this exchange of information take place?”

 _Busted_. Gaara can practically taste that feeling in the air. There is some uncomfortable shifting, before Tsuki finally admits, “In the ANBU break room.” _Where there is always a number of ANBU relaxing._ In other words, if there is something you want the entire ANBU to know, you simply have to mention it in their break room.

Gaara then turns to his siblings. There is a resigned look in Temari’s eyes, while Kankurou has his ‘Oh, crap’ expression. “And where did the two of you talk, that Tsuki and Omi heard you so easily?”

Kankurou sighed unhappily. “In my living room.” _Where any ANBU pair on guard will have no problems listening in._

Gaara opens his mouth to – not yell, but something close to it – when Omi beats him to the chase. “I won’t apologise for knowing about this, or for being upset at the Hokage!” he says fiercely. “The Hokage _deserves_ us being mad at him, because if he doesn’t know how to appreciate you then he’s too stupid to live anyway!”

Tsuki places a gentling arm on Omi’s, but looks directly at Gaara, and the normally teasing, devil-may-care light in his eyes is gone, to be replaced by a serious, angry glitter. “Omi’s right, Kazekage-sama,” he says, voice strong. “And he speaks for all of us.”

“Forget the Hokage,” Seiji agrees. “You’re too good for him anyway.”

“You have Suna, and you have us,” Ren says. “Please let us be your strength.”

Gaara stares at them all, taken aback by their overwhelming faith and love. This is why he fought for the job of Kazekage, he remembers; this is what he has always hoped to achieve. He smiles slowly, feeling some of the pain ease, and one by one they smile back.

“Thank you,” he says softly, meaning it. “You are shinobi that any Kage would be proud to lead, and serve.”

Kankurou clapped him on the back. “You’ve come a long way, little brother,” he says cheerfully, but Gaara can tell that he too has been touched by their words, and the pride that he has in Gaara is clear.

Something occurs to Gaara, then. He frowns. “Please tell me that when you said that the Hokage deserves your anger, you did not mean that you will be doing anything to _appease_ that anger?”

“Uh…”

Gaara sighs. He does not need this, and says as much. “I do not need more trouble on top of everything. Please spread the word that no one is to try anything with the Hokage or his guards, alright?”

They agree reluctantly. Feeling completely worn, Gaara stands. “Shall we have dinner in my rooms?” he asks his siblings.

Kankurou shakes his head. “I have to talk to some captains about training.”

Gaara turns to Temari, and the thoughtful look in her eyes is worrying. “I have some things to do, but I’ll join you soon,” she says. “You can head back first, get a head start on your work. I’ll bring dinner up for both of us.”

“If you have anything suspicious planned,” Gaara informs her, “you will be very very sorry.”

She smiles sweetly at him. “Would I do anything to hurt my own little brother?”

Even Kankurou eyes her at that. “Suspicious,” he agrees.

Temari kicks him. “Shut up.”

Gaara knows that whatever she is up to, she will not reveal until she is ready. He gives her one last warning look before she leaves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First there was humour, now there is angst... Don't worry, though, this has a happy ending.
> 
> As always, feel free to come say hi on Twitter @clarypuff if you'd like!
> 
>   
>  **Ashen Skies**   
>  _"We're still friends, right?"_   
> 


	3. Communication and its Many Happy Advantages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [When Gaara opens the door to his office, fifty naked girls greet him in chirpy unison.] Naruto tries to seduce Gaara. Gaara tries to resist. Everyone is horny, some people are angsty, and most people are just long-sufferingly tagging along for the ride. Featuring really short shorts, an odd Iwa mating ritual, and eventually a single bedsheet.

Gaara is preparing to take his midnight two-hour rest when he senses a flare of chakra from outside his rooms, from his guards.

There are no raised voices, nor explosions, nor anything else that might suggest an attack. It is likely that this is only an argument, though god knows what about, but one can never be too careful. Gaara calls some sand to him in preparation, and stands, staring at the door.

There are footsteps outside, coming closer. The door opens.

It opens to reveal Naruto.

There is a frozen moment where Gaara drinks in the sight hungrily. Naruto is wearing a pair of faded jeans and a soft v-neck sweater, which Gaara knows to be his comfort clothes. His hair is mussed, as if hands have run through it, tugged on it, messed it up in frustration many times. There are shadows beneath his eyes, testament to a lack of sleep, and his face is pale – but the expression on it is determined, and the light in his eyes speaks of… hope.

He is the most beautiful thing Gaara has ever seen, and the most painful.

So he runs.

There is a startled yelp behind him as Gaara darts through the window. In his panic, he forgets that he can use his sand to transport himself away; in fact, he leaves the sand behind in his room, and simply runs. All that he can think of is getting away from Naruto.

But he senses familiar chakra behind him, the effort that had been spent on hiding it now discarded in favour of the chase. Gaara runs harder.

The moonlight is bright as only the desert moon can be, its light pure and liquid, unobstructed by clouds and perfected by the clear air. The night is cold, sharp, and stings Gaara’s exposed skin as he leaps from rooftop to rooftop; each breath is like being woken up from a deep drowning sleep. Everything is quiet, and starkly illuminated, white and black and deep blue shadows blurring under his feet and before his eyes. It is as if the world has stopped, and is standing still, as he runs above all the sleeping people, above the silence. It is as if he is racing time itself.

And then, having crossed the walls of the village, as he darts across one of the rare oases that surround Suna, he is tackled from behind, and they fall.

Gaara closes his eyes, and grits his teeth for the impact. _At least we are on grass_ , he thinks. But the expected pain never comes, and when he feels the shudder as they hit the ground, it is conveyed to him through the body pressed against his back, and the arms wrapped tightly around him. Gaara finds himself staring up at the leaves of a tree and the star-filled sky, and wonders what the hell just happened.

Then the body beneath him groans, and he is suddenly seized with conflicting senses of panic. One screams at him to flee, but the other is much stronger, and does not need to scream.

 _Naruto is hurt_ , it tells him simply.

Gaara struggles to get up, to get off Naruto, but the arms merely tighten. Naruto’s voice, when it comes from behind him, sounds winded and tight with pain. “I’m not letting you run off again.”

“I am not running,” Gaara snaps. “I simply wish to get off of you so that you can breathe without my weight crushing you, and check your injuries.”

“You’re not heavy,” Naruto objects, but obediently loosens his hold. Gaara rolls off, and then gets to his knees beside Naruto, reaching out to gently pull him upright. Naruto winces as he sits up.

They stare at each other, brilliant green and intense blue like gems in the night. Gaara is the first to look away. “You broke my fall,” he says. “You turned us so that you would be underneath.”

Naruto shrugs, the rasp of his clothes a whisper to add to the soft breeze through the grass. “Ninja skills,” he says wisely, as if it explains everything.

Gaara cannot stop the quirk of his lips, and he despairs that even now he can still love this man so much. “Let me check your back,” he says.

“I’m not really hurt, just bruised,” Naruto says quickly.

“Taking into consideration the times when you called a wound that needed stitches ‘a mere scratch’,” Gaara says dryly, “I feel disinclined to trust your word.”

Naruto sighs and sits up straighter, crossing his legs. “Fine, fine,” he grumbles. “Do your mother-hen thing.”

Gaara shifts so that he is looking at Naruto’s back. He is in the process of lifting up the hem of the sweater when he realizes what he is doing, and by then it is too late. His left hand has already pulled the cloth up. He is committed to the action.

 _Focus_ , Gaara tells himself, and leans in. His eyes take in the expanse of golden skin, turned a beautiful bronze in the moonlight, and notes the tender areas. “You will have bruises,” he says softly, reaching out to carefully press the skin, judging the depth of the bruising, “but nothing more.”

It is then that he realizes that Naruto is frozen, hardly breathing… and it is the completely mad pounding of his heart that is vibrating up Gaara’s fingers. _Simply running the way we did is not enough to elevate the heartbeat this high_ , Gaara thinks medically, logically, distantly. _That means…_

He can hardly believe what he thinks it means.

Naruto is still, unmoving, and Gaara stares for a long while at the back of that familiar head. Then he drops his gaze to his fingers, still lingering on Naruto’s back, the paleness of his skin contrasting with the darkness of Naruto’s. Slowly, still not believing that this is happening, that he is allowed to do this, to touch and to caress, Gaara trails his fingers up and down Naruto’s back, lost in the feel of quivering muscle underneath smooth, soft skin.

The body under his fingers shivers, breaking Gaara out of his trance. He quickly snatches his hand back and drops the shirt, rising to his feet. “I apologise,” he says, averting his eyes, cursing himself. “I know the desert is cold at night.”

Naruto stands, and Gaara’s gaze is drawn to those eyes, watching him. “There’s no need to be sorry,” Naruto says quietly, his gaze searching. “I liked that.”

“Do not do this,” Gaara whispers, unable to look away.

Blue eyes sharpen. “Why not?”

“You have Uchiha.” The words are bitter on his tongue; he ruthlessly speaks them anyway. “You love him.”

Unexpectedly, Naruto smiles ruefully. “That’s what I used to think, too,” he says. “And Sasuke thought that maybe his inability to throw my friendship and my life away meant something more. But we were both wrong, and we figured that out pretty quickly.”

The pain in Gaara’s chest feels like he is breaking all over again, and yet it is completely different. _I never knew hope was this painful_ , he thinks, dizzy with it. “You are not… in love with him?” he says, voice catching. “But… your behaviour… the dinner…”

Naruto seems to find what it is he is looking for in Gaara’s face, in his eyes, and the blue gaze softens.

“Temari _said_ you misunderstood,” he mutters half to himself, “but I didn’t really believe that there could have been such a colossal screw-up. God, Sasuke was right, I _am_ an idiot.” He suddenly looks directly at Gaara, catching him off-guard. “What did you think was going on?”

“I…” What had he thought? Gaara cannot quite remember, in this hushed oasis. “I thought that you were trying to win Sasuke back. I had news of your romance and your break-up, so… and the dinner, I thought that Sasuke had given in partly, and consented to have dinner with you once again, but then he decided that it was truly over with you, and you tried to get him to stay…”

Naruto’s eyes have been growing progressively wider, and the disbelief progressively stronger, and Gaara continues hesitantly, “I thought you were trying to make him jealous by… by coming on to me…” He finally stops, when he fears that Naruto’s eyes will fall out of his head in shock. Gaara himself is confused; is his interpretation of events really that wrong?

“You thought…” Words fail Naruto; his jaw works. Finally he says, “I can’t believe you would think that of me! How could you believe that I would ever use a friend like that –”

Gaara flinches, each word almost a physical blow. Now that Naruto is here, before him, angry and hurt, he wonders how he could ever have thought Naruto capable of such deeds. He has failed Naruto, the moment he failed to trust him. Suddenly the self-loathing from years past is back, the self-loathing and the confusion, and Gaara tenses, prepares to flee –

A pair of warm hands catch hold of his, and the feeling, the knowledge that _these are my hands in Naruto’s_ , drive all other thoughts away. Gaara thinks he might not be breathing as he looks down at their joined hands. “Damn it, here I am screwing things up again,” Naruto mutters. “I’m sorry, Gaara, I didn’t mean to yell.” He pauses, and when he speaks again, there is wonder in his voice. “Your hands are so soft.”

Naruto’s hands are callused, rough, and Gaara knows he can never match the strength in them. He leans heavily towards ninjutsu, after all, rather than taijutsu. He dares to tighten his grip, and feels an answering squeeze. It gives him courage to say, “I apologise for not trusting you. I have always, and will always have faith in you, but… I was confused. I did not know what to make of your erratic behaviour. I did not think that it was possible that you could be doing it simply because… because you wanted me, for me.”

“There should be statues of me put up around the world as the idiot to top all idiots,” Naruto says, wincing. “Yeah, about that whole seduction thing… I know it was sudden and came out of nowhere. I should have thought about it more, but… I wanted you so badly, and I wanted to test if you could feel the same, that’s why I did it. Because, you know… that is…”

The blush is obvious even in the soft dim light, and Gaara tilts his head, eyeing him. “That is…?”

Naruto looks at him and gives him a quick grin. “You look really adorable when you do that,” he says. Gaara stiffens, glaring at him, and tries to yank his hands away. Naruto refuses to let go, however, and says quickly, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Look, do you want to hear this or not?”

Still glaring, Gaara shrugs slightly.

“Fine. Um… okay, so… remember I said that Sasuke and I found out pretty quickly that we were just really good friends?” At Gaara’s nod, Naruto grimaces, and blurts out, “We tried to test our feelings by having sex but neither of us could get it up and we wondered whether it was just us being impotent and you have _no idea_ how horrifying the thought was so we named all our closest people and it was only until Sasuke thought of Sakura that he got hard and then I thought of _you_ and… yeah.”

Gaara takes a few seconds to work this out. Then, amazingly, he feels his cheeks start heating, too. “Oh,” he says intelligently.

“Yeah,” Naruto says, grinning embarrassedly. “Then a week later I had to come here for the Kage meeting, and thoughts about you in _that_ way were still running through my head, and so all I could think of was trying to see if you could think of me that way, too.”

Gaara tries to make sense of this revelation. “So… about the dinner…?”

“Oh, that.” Naruto winces. “Man, this is going to sound really stupid.”

“It cannot be worse than what you have already revealed.”

“Yeah, make this easier, why don’t you.” Naruto’s grin shows that he does not mind, however. “Okay, well, you do know that the Iwa guy likes you, right?”

“I have had that fact pointed out to me, yes.”

“So you didn’t actually know when you were having that little chat with him?”

Gaara shakes his head.

“Huh. I knew you were dense, but… okay, okay! Stop glaring. Anyway, I was, well, I was jealous.”

“Jealous?”

“Yeah, stop repeating that word! So I was jealous, okay, and then Sasuke came and I knew that he would help me in making _you_ jealous and hence the dinner happened. Oh, and I knew that the Iwa guy would come by to give you the scroll and I just _knew_ that he was going to try and stay and have dinner with you or something, so I kept alert for his presence and when I felt him approaching I went out to intercept him. And… that’s it.”

“That… makes sense,” Gaara says slowly. Naruto was _jealous_ because of him, Gaara? A wave of happiness rises, breaks, washes over him.

“But you _didn’t_ get jealous.” Naruto pouts, and Gaara thinks that _this_ is what adorable is. “I tried really hard, too. Sasuke was just about ready to kill me, especially when I kept eating his food.”

So Gaara _had_ read the annoyance correctly. “I did get jealous,” he admits with a tiny smile. “But by then I had resolved not to hinder the progress of your relationship with my unwanted feelings.”

Naruto sighs. “Ever the self-sacrificing Kage.”

“So…” Gaara tries to recall their after-dinner conversation. “After Uchiha left. That whole exchange – you thought that your feelings had been revealed by Uchiha, and you thought that I was… rejecting you?”

“Yep.” The memory of hurt flashes across blue eyes. “And you thought that I was asking you to have sex with me to make Sasuke so jealous that he would take me back.”

“You sounded so desperate when you asked him to stay,” Gaara mutters, feeling stupid. “And then he told you that it would never have worked, and that he should never have agreed…”

“Actually, come to think of it, I can see why you misunderstood,” Naruto says thoughtfully. “Huh. How screwed up is that?”

Gaara finds himself smiling in sheer relief and joy. “Our misunderstanding _was_ rather spectacular.”

Naruto is watching him, with the loveliest smile Gaara can ever remember seeing on his face. “I haven’t seen you smile like this in such a long time,” Naruto says wistfully. “You should smile more.”

Gaara feels extremely exposed, and vulnerable, and with his hands still in Naruto’s he feels both trapped and free. But he is the Kazekage, with nerves of iron and the love of his village, and he can be as strong as Naruto is.

He is Gaara, who has been through unimaginable hell and back again, and he _is_ already strong.

“I think,” he says steadily, drawing strength from within him, from Naruto, from his siblings, from his shinobi and his village – “I think that if you stay by my side, perhaps I will.”

Those beautiful eyes blink at him. And then Naruto tugs at him using their joined hands, and Gaara willingly lets himself be pulled forward. Naruto looks down at him, blue eyes so close that it is like being surrounded by an ocean, and smiles crookedly. “If I tell you I’m in love with you,” he says softly,

“then can I stay by your side?”

“If you mean it,” Gaara replies, equally soft, “then yes.” His heart feels like it will hammer itself out of his chest; now he understands Naruto’s reaction from before, because he cannot seem to stop the shiver from running through him at being so very _close_.

“I do mean it,” Naruto whispers, and leans in.

Gaara has never imagined that lips can be so soft, or that a kiss can be so sweet. He has never imagined that such simple contact can send the world spinning, or make his body so weak even as it makes him stronger than ever before. He closes his eyes and lets himself melt.

Naruto is fire, and he is sand, and together their first kiss is like glass – fragile and all the more beautiful for it, and too-gently, so-carefully handled. And, like glass, their emotions are clear and strong, finally out in the open, and Gaara is lost before he even knows the possibility exists. It is terrifying, this loss, this lack of control, but Gaara is strong enough – his love is strong enough – to meet that fear head on.

They part, and Naruto’s hands release his – the resulting momentary sense of loss is quickly banished, when strong arms wrap around him and pull him close again. Naruto is warm, and Gaara returns the embrace, resting his head on his shoulder, simply breathing.

He presses a kiss to the crook of Naruto’s neck, and Naruto presses a kiss into his hair. “We should get back,” Naruto says finally, though he makes no effort to move. “Your guards are likely to come hunting me down if we stay here any longer… if Temari and Shikamaru and Neji don’t get here first. Your sister is one scary woman. She was the one who figured that something was wrong, you know, and she barged into my rooms and demanded my side of the story. And then she and Shikamaru figured enough of it out to make me believe that I had a chance. And it was her who talked to your guards who were just about ready to murder me on the spot, and convinced them to let me into your rooms.”

“I knew she was up to something,” Gaara mutters, feeling vindicated. He does not want to break this perfect, perfect moment, but he knows that it is a miracle that they are not already surrounded by his guards and his siblings. So he pulls back from Naruto, and it takes an act of will that he is pretty damn proud of. He gives Naruto another smile, and holds out his hand.

Naruto takes it, beaming. He gives it a squeeze.

Then they are off, running across the sands, and after the first few seconds they find a rhythm and fall into step with each other like they have been doing this all their lives. The air is still cold and sharp as Gaara breathes, but this time it is like waking from sleep to a warm body next to his, and holding a warm hand. There are still shadows, and the world is still silent, but now in it Gaara thinks he can hear the hush of sleepers dreaming, and it feels like they are angels, slipping quietly by.

It feels like peace.

* * *

The next day, the Tsuchikage takes one look and congratulates them on a happy ending. Ume looks a little disappointed at first, but he seems to get over it quickly and wishes Gaara all the best, and holds out a hand.

Before Gaara can even _think_ about taking it, Naruto grabs him and bends him over the table and gives him a scorching, deep, very-much-involving-tongue-action kiss. He reaches behind and gropes Gaara, for good measure.

Gaara whimpers.

Not to be outdone, and infected by the high spirits all the ANBU are in at the news that their Kazekage is truly happy now, Tsuki grabs Omi and Seiji grabs Ren. They proceed to demonstrate their high spirits and their kissing skills very thoroughly.

Ume looks like his every (wet) dream has come true and looks around the room frantically as if spoilt for choice. His eyes glaze over.

Shikamaru and Neji eye each other, and very carefully inch away.

Temari puts her head in her hands, but secretly peeks at her brother his lover, because, really, they make just about the most incredibly hot couple ever. Kankurou slaps a hand over his eyes and swears softly.

The Tsuchikage promptly keels over from a heart attack.

(He survives, of course, but after that whenever he meets the Hokage and the Kazekage again, he gets a nosebleed and has to go have a lie-down.)

More relevantly, when Gaara is finally released from the kiss and recovers enough to look around, a vengeful resolve is born in him. For this and for all the other stunts that Naruto has pulled so far, with no thought as to decorum or the agonizing strain on Gaara’s self-control…

Naruto is going to pay.

* * *

When Naruto opens the door to his bedroom and steps in, one very gorgeous redhead stirs from his reclining position on the bed and gives him a slow, long-lashed blink as he says, “Good evening, Hokage-sama.”

Naruto blinks, and shuts the door.

This is achieved by blindly reaching behind him and flailing his hand around until it comes into contact with wood, but he cannot (not that he wants to) look away for his life.

Gaara stretches, and Naruto’s eyes cannot help but follow that slim form as luminous skin shifts over subtle muscles, and a pale torso arches. Green eyes flutter half-shut, in a face with a hint of an unbelievably sexy smirk on it, and rich red hair rustles as a head tilts back, baring a slender throat. Then Gaara relaxes, curling back onto the bed, coy and kittenish at the same time.

The only covering he has seems to be a bed-sheet messily draped over half of him. A long, slim, pale leg emerges from the cloth.

Naruto’s throat is dry.

“Remember the first few days when you tried to seduce me?” Gaara asks, his voice somehow huskier than Naruto remembers, and it sends a shiver through him. That voice should be a sin. “Remember all the things you tried – all those slutty clothes, and the towel? The _fifty naked bunshins_?”

Naruto nods dumbly. He cannot actually think straight right now, but he figures that if he keeps agreeing with whatever the vision in his bed says, something really good might happen.

Gaara tilts his head, and Naruto twitches. “Your tactics did not work,” he says, licking soft, full lips. “Do you want to know why?”

Naruto nods again, unable to look away.

“Because you were too subtle and yet too brazen at the same time,” Gaara informs him. There is a glint in his eyes. “Only you, Naruto, could achieve such a paradox.”

Naruto bites back a whimper at his name slipping through those lips, in that voice. He nods; it is the only thing he can remember how to do, now.

“Seduction needs to be… elegant. It needs to be artful. You cannot approach it in the careless, loud way that you always approach things.”

Nod, nod. Whimper.

“Do you want to learn?”

Nod, nod. Whimper.

Gaara smiles at him, sweetly devilish. He pats the empty space on the bed next to him. “Then come.”

Naruto practically teleports onto the bed. He reaches out, dying to run his hands along pale skin –

And encounters empty space.

He blinks, and looks up.

Gaara stands at the foot of the bed, holding the sheet to cover himself; sand swirls around him, alternating between covering and revealing the rest. He is regal, arrogant, the feared and respected and beloved Kazekage of Suna, chin held high and green eyes glittering. There is a smirk on his lips. “This,” he says almost conversationally, “is the true art of seduction. You have much to learn, Hokage-sama.”

And then, in a swirl of sand, he is gone.

A white sheet flutters to the ground.

Naruto stares at the sheet. The image of Gaara covered only in a sheet is still imprinted on his eyeballs. It is replaced by an image of Gaara _without_ the sheet that is now currently on his floor – an image of Gaara that is currently very real, and very naked, in some other part of the building.

“Damn,” is all Naruto’s mind can come up with.

And then, with a feral grin, he jumps off the bed and heads out of his room at a run. He has a very tricky Kazekage to hunt down and claim as his own.

He has to admit that in seduction, he is way outclassed by Gaara.

But in stamina…

Heh.

 _We’ll see_ , Naruto thinks.

The chase is on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap! Ah, I love these boys. Hope you enjoyed! There's a smutty epilogue of sorts that I may put up eventually as a second and final part to this series, which needs to be somewhat rewritten, but I haven't been in this fandom for a while and need to find the inspiration to write again. Is anyone even still around? Hmm.
> 
> As always, feel free to come say hi on Twitter @clarypuff if you'd like!
> 
>   
>  **Ashen Skies**   
>  _"If I tell you I’m in love with you, then can I stay by your side?"_   
> 


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